Come this fall, Tom Miller could not imagine being away from the gridiron, where he has been during each autumn every year for four decades.

In early June, Miller was tabbed to return as the Sedona Red Rock High School head football coach, as well as teach weight lifting and Red Rock Academy classes. He, along with assistant coach Jeff Rescigno, have been working with players in the weight room off and on since the school year ended.

“The biggest thing is I’ll miss it if I’m not coaching,” Miller said. “It’s all I know. I’ve been doing it my whole life, and hopefully it will make a difference for these kids.

“… I’m thankful for the opportunity to keep doing this. I want to make it fun and we want to show some progress and we want to have some success. It’s a privilege to be able to coach.”

In May, Miller said he stepped down from the position for family reasons. But with the program in need of a coach, the fact that Miller would not have to juggle head football coach and athletic director duties, and with at least one assistant coach who would also work on campus all factored in to help his return.

“Maybe thinking a little more clearly about what I needed to do next and then just realizing that it looks like there’s a good possibility of having some other coaches in the building,” Miller said. “My realizing that when football season comes, I’ll be looking for something to do, I would probably be coaching somewhere, just because I have to stick my nose in there somehow.”

Red Rock Athletic Director Don Burton said one of his desires since coming is to have coaches who would also work on campus, which in turn would help build a strong foundation for the athletics program as a whole. It will involve the coaches in the players’ academics and give them a chance to further develop relationships and an understanding of the student-athletes themselves.

John Madrid will be one of Miller’s assistants as the team’s offensive coordinator, and he’ll also teach physical education and English as a Second Language.

The Scorpions participated in a 7-on-7 competition at Mingus Union High School on Wednesday, June 20. Miller expects to have around 20 players on the team.

The 2017 season was Miller’s first in charge of the Scorpions, and he was a volunteer coach in 2016. Last season ended with an 0-9 record after losing its top playmaker in senior Javi Pacheco to injury for most of the year. Red Rock played in Conference 2A’s Central Region that season.

This upcoming season the Scorpions will be in the 2A Salt Region. The new region is comprised of Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, Valley Lutheran High School, Antelope Union High School, Northe Pointe Preparatory and Veritas Preparatory Academy. Those schools also have low numbers like Red Rock, but all the Scorpions do now is work on themselves.

“I’m more worried about us and our preparation. What we do have is some teams on the schedule in that region that have low numbers, that are in the high teens or low 20s,” Miller said. “No excuses. We still have to prepare, I’m concerned about us preparing and not what the other team doesn’t have …. This is where we are, I like where we are. I like our kids. If we have enough kids out there, we’ll be competitive.”